Tech —

About a DROID: a review of Motorola’s newest smartphone

As the first phone based on Google's Android 2. for?

Verizon Wireless is the US's largest wireless carrier, and it's renowned for its good network coverage. At the same time, Verizon's top-end consumer smartphones have been represented by its aging collection of Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices. The Apple iPhone went to AT&T, the Palm Pre to Sprint, and the first generation of Android devices to T-Mobile. But Verizon has finally struck back, taking the first Android 2.0 Device and releasing it with some Apple-like hype. Ars has gotten a hold of a Droid, and we've taken it (and the Android 2.0 platform) out for a test drive.

With the release of the Motorola Droid, Verizon Wireless takes a shot directly at the iPhone. Featuring an eye-catching 3.7" WVGA screen, the same speedy ARM Cortex A8-based processor that powers the Pre and the iPhone 3GS, and a modern smartphone OS, the Droid is definitely a phone to be reckoned with. But is all this enough to make this phone your daily companion?

Unboxing & new user experience:

The Droid's "new hardware" experience is a bit different from other smartphones. As a Verizon phone, most people buy it at the store, so they receive the phone "unboxed" already. At the Verizon store where I got mine, the representative was very helpful with the process of activating my phone over the CDMA network and linking it to my Google account. While not mandatory, you lose out on many of the phone's features if you do not want to have Google manage your online existence. The Android Market is also not available unless you have a Google account.

The Droid's packaging is minimal and neat. You get the phone, a microUSB-to-USB cable, a two-pronged AC/DC-to-USB inverter, and a small amount of documentation. However, this neat little box is marred on the side with an uninformative notice containing the box's contents, disclaimers, and a large sticker with a dozen serial numbers. Basically the art and packaging departments did a wonderful job, then Verizon/Motorola went back and ruined it.

Unboxed Droid

The Hardware

The overall physical hardware design is a bit different than other popular smartphones. It's not the slick pebble of the Pre, nor the rounded slate of the iPhone, nor even the rounded edges of the HTC G1/Dream; it's actually a rather jarring collection of angles, edges, buttons, and connectors. Here it is, sitting besides a HTC G1 and a Palm Pre.

G1, Droid, and Pre

The screen is well-built and slides out with a solid "click," without any spring assistance. But the screen doesn't overlap the bottom half of the phone, making for an uneven look. The micro USB connector is a lump in the side of the phone, so unless you have the actual Motorola car dock, you won't be able to charge it while using a generic car mount. When grasping the phone, you feel the edges and side buttons, making it uncomfortable to hold for long periods. In addition, the placement of the camera and volume buttons make them very easy to accidentally bump. Overall, it's just not a very well-planned layout.

Some users might also be wary of the lack of a physical "call" and "end call" button, as those are handled by the phone application. The front face buttons are just hotspots on the capacitive screen. And the phone lacks protection against liquids, since the microUSB jack and all the speakers sit exposed.

The overall hardware specs are:

CPU: TI OMAP 3430 (Arm Cortex A8 @ 550 mhz, PowerVR SGX 530)

RAM: 256MB

Flash Memory: 512MB built in (for program storage)

Secondary: 16GB removable MicroSD (for music/images/general storage)

Keyboard

Droid keyboard

The Droid keyboard is not what I would consider great. It has very little differentiation between the keys, and this makes it fairly easy to mistype. The keyboard also is only 4 rows, so your Alt keys get used a lot more, and there are fewer characters available. I found myself not using the physical keyboard much at all. I also found myself turning off auto-rotate features quite a bit.